|
|
.gif) |
News
|
Of Wings &
Things: Curtiss and the F-5L
Peter M. Bowers
8/28/2001
 The Curtiss Aeroplane
& Motor Company, of Buffalo, New York, found itself in an
odd position in 1918 with its U.S. Navy contract for 60 F-5L
twin-engine flying boats. What was strange was that the F-5L
was basically a Curtiss design that had been modified first by
the British Royal Naval Air Service and then by the U.S.
Navy.
Curtiss had built the first twin-engine flying
boat, the Model H, in 1914. Named America, it was constructed
to the special order of one Rodman Wanamaker, who planned to
compete with it for a 10,000-pound prize for the first flight
across the Atlantic Ocean. When the start of World War I
stopped the flight just as it was to begin, Curtiss sold the
America and a sister ship to the Royal Naval Air Service. When
their 90-horsepower Curtiss engines proved inadequate, the
British installed various French and British models. Eight
more H-4s were built in England. As a class, the H-4s were all
called Americas.
Early in 1916 Curtiss developed a
larger model, the H-12, with 160-horsepower (later
200-horsepower) Curtiss engines. The Royal Naval Air Service
bought 84, but installed its own 275-horsepower (later 375)
Rolls-Royce Eagle engines. The H-12s were called Large
Americas, and the H-4s became Small Americas.
The U.S.
Navy bought 20 H-12s with 200-horsepower Curtiss engines. In
1918 those H-12s became H-12Ls when their engines were
replaced with new 360-horsepower low-compression American
Libertys.
The Royal Naval Air Service liked the Curtiss
boats, but soon found a need for improved hull structure and
hydrodynamics, so workers in Felixstowe built a series of
Americas with Curtiss-designed wings but improved hulls. That
started an F-for-Felixstowe series at F-1.
The British
developments were sent to Curtiss, which came out late in 1917
with an improved H-16. Curtiss delivered 60 to the Royal Naval
Air Service, which installed its own engines, and 124 to the
U.S. Navy with Liberties. The Naval Aircraft Factory built
another 150.
British refinements led to the F-5, which
was similar to the H-16 except for small details. The U.S.
Navy figured that the F-5 was enough of an improvement over
the H-16 to justify building it in the United States. The
British drawings were redone to U.S. standards, and the Navy
made a few minor changes of its own. The result: A Navy-owned
design, despite its Curtiss origins, was designated F-5L with
Liberty engines. Workers at the Naval Aircraft Factory built
138, Canadian Aeroplanes (the Curtiss Canadian branch until
the government nationalized it) built 30, and Curtiss built
60. Many historians and photo collectors, including this one,
file them all under Curtiss even though they’re a "Navy"
design.
The last two Navy-built F-5Ls were completed as
F-6Ls with minor improvements, most notably new vertical tail
surfaces that were later retrofitted to many in-service
F-5Ls.
In a new designation system, the F-5Ls were
re-designated on paper in 1923 as PN-5s (P for patrol, N for
the Navy design, and –5 retaining the well-known model
numbers). The F-6Ls became PN-6s. As with many models that
were in service before the new designations were adopted, the
old designation was retained through the service life of
F-5Ls, which lasted to 1930.
The new designation was
applied to old airplanes and given new Navy serial numbers,
however, when two wooden F-5L hulls were fitted with entirely
new wings and more powerful engines as PN-7s. The PN-8 through
PN-12 models will be covered next
issue.
Photograph — The Curtiss Model H America
of 1914, with two 90-horsepower Curtiss OX engines mounted as
pushers. The aircraft had a 74-foot wingspan 74, 5,000-pound
gross weight and 65-mph high speed. It marked the start of the
twin-engine Navy flying-boat patrol line that lasted into
World War II.
| |
|
General Aviation News - 800.426.8538
P.O. Box
39099
Lakewood, WA 98439
comments@GeneralAviationNews.com
|
|
